Photo/Illutration The logo for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games displayed at the office of the organizing committee in Beijing in November. (Masayuki Takada)

Japan is unlikely to dispatch a Cabinet member to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February so as to fall in line with a U.S. and European diplomatic boycott over China’s suspected human rights abuses, sources said.

Instead, the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is looking to send Koji Murofushi, commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency, in a show of respect to China and thereby avoid a deterioration in ties with its largest trade partner.

An official announcement is expected by year-end.

The decision not to send a Cabinet member underscores Tokyo’s position on diplomatic dealings with countries that have a poor track record on human rights.

However, there was some grumbling in government circles that keeping pace with Western countries could lead to souring of relations between the two neighbors.

The idea of having Murofushi attend the Olympics emerged as a compromise to avert a possible derailment of bilateral relations.

The government noted that Beijing dispatched a Cabinet-level official, Gou Zhongwen, head of the General Administration of Sport of China, to the Tokyo Games this summer.

Still, others fret that the United States and other countries joining the diplomatic boycott may take issue with Murofushi’s attendance, given that he has high standing in the government.

Kishida appears set on sounding out the opinions of other countries and consulting further with his Liberal Democratic Party.

The government is set to also dispatch Upper House member Seiko Hashimoto, a former Olympian and president of the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics, as well as Yasuhiro Yamashita, chief of the Japanese Olympic Committee to Beijing.

Government officials characterized the latter visits as “nothing to do with politics,” saying that they will attend an IOC meeting to be held in Beijing.

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